With the background that Debbie and Michael Smith have, you would think that they would also want to run a professional place which, I think, includes not having your "cute" kid running around trying to help. If you're going to do this, wait until she is at least old enough to answer the phone properly and professionally.
So, in closing, I would like to tell 40 Sardines that I will not be a patron at their restaurant anytime in the near future.
John Shaft
Overland Park
In fact, the busiest "nice" restaurants I know do not provide highchairs or booster seats for kids. It sounds illogical, but the theory is that kids are a nuisance to other patrons, and the business they lose via this inconvenience is more than offset by the business they gain from maintaining a non-Chuck E. Cheese atmosphere. (Though it should be said that even at Chuck E. Cheese, kids can't answer the phone.) It seems to work, and while I truly wish 40 Sardines a great deal of success, it sure won't be because I helped them.
Name Withheld Upon Request
This is a really poor attempt to drum up money for the city. The whole sting operation probably came about by some goody-goody complaint to the city or some bored vice commander with nothing better to do at night. What's worse is the tax money also being wasted in court plugging up real cases being fought and won.
Let's find better ways to spend our tax dollars, such as funding the light rail system for Kansas City or feeding the homeless.
Matt Cambern
Kansas City, Missouri
I've lived here my whole life and have made the simple observation that Kay Barnes is one of the least productive leaders that Kansas City has seen in generations. What right does this woman have to either call herself a "leader" or to play tour guide to visitors from other cities? If it were all left up to her, Kansas City would be a full-blown boomtown collection of abandoned buildings and crumbling landmarks. I wonder if she gave a close-up tour of our scenic downtown.
Jay Bendure
Kansas City, Missouri
Most people do not know that the zoo does not house Asian elephants or emperor penguins. Three separate times, people asked me if I heard that the zoo director had been arrested for killing all of the animals. Different people told me that he had poisoned the snow leopard with arsenic (well, one person said "snow jaguar" because she, like most people who read the Pitch, isn't that smart) and that he stabbed an elephant to death. I was thinking that it would take an awful lot of effort and time to stab a 3-ton elephant to death.
I also heard that the "lady in charge of the orangutans said the animals were using sign language to tell her the director is a 'badman.'" I know that the KC Zoo is not advanced enough in its animal training to accomplish something like that. I told all of these people that the story can't possibly be true, mainly because it doesn't even make sense.
You cannot possibly expect the average person to be responsible enough to read far enough to see the fine print telling them that the story is fake. Just because Johnson is intelligent and creative enough to fantasize this story doesn't mean that your readers will see the humor, or even get the point. Granted, the zoo has its problems, but every zoo does. I happen to like the zoo; with enough funding, it could easily be world-class.
If Ms. Johnson has ethical issues with the zoo, or zoos in general, she should write about that instead. It would be a more persuasive form of argument that the average reader would understand.
Susan McDoogle
Kansas City, Missouri
I hope the zoo director sues her for slander, dead geese or no dead geese. I was fully prepared to write all the local news stations, CNN and CNBC about her findings, only to find she was "just kidding." Even sicker than the possible animal abuse is her flippant attitude on the issue.
You have lost me and several of my friends as readers. You were on a slippery slope with us anyway, given the declining quality of your paper over the past several months. Thanks for finally putting us out of our misery.
Tammy Lowery
Kansas City, Missouri
A nonprofit group that I help direct is using the bears to generate publicity for an event that we are holding in the fall. Some of our activities will involve local scout groups, home-schoolers and other children's groups. We hope that this has a positive influence on these young people, unlike the hatefulness that Janovy and Mark Kind spewed forth in the last two Kansas City Strip editorials.
I am certain that Kind succeeded in trying to be hurtful to Christians by asserting that the picture that he wrote about was homoerotic, but he also slapped every person of Mideastern origin in the face by asserting that anyone who wears garments similar to the person in the picture is another Osama bin Laden. As for Janovy's hatred of the bears, it baffles me. I see them as a means to do something positive for young and old. That's not a bad thing.
Scott Couch
Kansas City, Missouri
These stupid sappy attempts to cater to the masses will undoubtedly go on forever. Give the public a little more credit, won't you?
David S. Smith
Independence
Yes, there was a time when patients would allow a doctor to exhibit warmth and humor in an effort to put them at ease. Today, however, more people are asserting themselves when it comes to protecting their "personal space." They prefer a doctor to divorce himself completely from any emotion or levity, and maintain as professional a manner as possible throughout an entire procedure. If Dr. Culp could not accept this as a cold, hard fact of life, then it should come as no surprise to anyone that he refused to accept the notion that he had any problem to be addressed, according to the courts.
Certainly it's a shame that he may very well die in jail. But he won't be alone. (Ask any lifer!) Further, perhaps he should have listened to his wife when she suggested he should retire. If he couldn't make an effort to adjust his attitude, then he might not have been so exposed to trouble if he had gone into some other type of activity after taking down his shingle.
Kim S. Schinkel
Kansas City, Missouri
He was one of the best doctors that I have been to, and it is unfortunate to see him in this situation. I think in these times, with everyone suing for just about anything, these women victimized my doctor. I have seen him for 29 years; he told jokes, yes, but that's it. I have three sisters and my mother, and he never tried anything with them.
Robert Marquez
Kansas City, Kansas
The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of the best productions to have come out of Broadway. In no way are the lyrics or the music by Knighton and Wildhorn bombastic or "gaze-haze" (whatever that means). I know for a fact that Walker's mindless and witless article will not be taken for fact (no matter how often he tried to be witty or "gay it up" -- oh, how more juvenile and obnoxious could he be?!). This show has a far better life of accomplishments than probably Walker's entire career to date.
Read this and think twice before you bash something that does not deserve the bash that you have given.
Name Withheld Upon Request
